


A Secondhand Romance

by choctopus



Series: Constanne is basically canon now [1]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 04:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3161528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choctopus/pseuds/choctopus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anne of Austria was a little in love with Constance before they actually met - d'Artagnan's recommendation really was glowing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Secondhand Romance

The chateau bustled with women. The wives of aristocrats and politicians had gathered in hopes of helping along the diplomatic processes their husbands were officially responsible for. It was all strictly off the record of course, but Anne of Austria couldn’t be allowed to travel without any sort of guard - especially not while pregnant. So d’Artagnan was sent with her, along with two ladies in waiting and a coachman. The queen and the ladies sat at the dinner table and discussed matters of state, their children, their husbands. Conclusions were drawn and deals were made and at the end of the day they went their separate ways to grease the wheels of the men’s diplomacy. 

It had gone dark long before the conference was finished so rooms were arranged for the night. Anne was of course given the plushest apartments for her personal use. She was tired, weighed down by her growing son, bored by how little she could share with her ladies in waiting. Once she was dressed for bed she sent them away and called for d’Artagnan.   
“Keep me company for a while Monsieur. Tell me about your friends, your family, your loves.”  
“Your Majesty I…”  
“Start with your loves. You’re a handsome man; I’m sure there are many.”  
She gave the musketeer the full force of her charm, fixing him with a gaze that suggested no one in the world was more interesting.  
“I uh, I don’t really have any loves, your majesty.”  
“Now now d’Artagnan there must be someone!”  
“Not any more your majesty, there was… but she has a husband. She decided to stay with him.” The tension in his shoulders and his face spoke volumes to the queen.   
“Tell me about her.” she whispered. And he did. Every detail, everything he felt about Constance Bonacieux.  
Anne listened, raptly, almost mesmerised by the force of feeling behind the musketeer’s words. She felt almost as though she could see this woman, standing beside her husband, losing her temper at d’Artagnan and his friends, holding her own in a fight with a sword in her hand… And then, held back by her husband, trapped by his emotional blackmail.   
“You know, I’ve been thinking for a long while I need a trustworthy companion. Someone who won’t be passing information to the Cardinal. Do you think, Monsieur, that your Madame Bonacieux might be willing to take on the role?”  
“She’d have to be close to you…”   
“She’d have to live in the palace, yes.”  
“Your Majesty, I’m sure she’d be thrilled.”  
“I’ll make arrangements. Thank you d’Artagnan, you may go.”

They returned to Paris and life went on as before. Except Anne couldn’t stop thinking about Madame Bonacieux. When she had chance to speak with them she made a point of mentioning the woman to d’Artagnan’s particular friends. Porthos said he’d never met anyone quite like her. Athos supported what d’Artagnan had said about her sense and intelligence. Aramis said “She hit me once. Oh, and on one occasion, she handed me a baby so she could stab someone!”  
Then Captain Treville agreed that the husband was horrible, and the queen went to ask her husband if she could make the appointment.   
There was another new attendant too, employed mainly to look after the child when Anne gave birth. Marguerite seemed pleasant enough, almost a woman who could be trusted - if Anne herself had chosen her - but she was discreet enough to take along on a little surveillance mission. Anne dressed them in servants’ clothes and they set out in the evening to the marketplace near Rue Marchand, then to the little courtyard where one could find Bonacieux the draper.  
She was outside hanging laundry. Anne knew for certain Constance was exactly what she needed, and exactly who d’Artagnan thought she was - exactly as beautiful, as passionate. So the arrangements were made, the summons sent to the house - and Madame Bonacieux arrived at the palace. The apprehension Anne felt before going to greet Constance was… as if she were meeting a suitor. It was nothing like that of course, and obviously it was just that d’Artagnan’s affection for hare had rubbed off. Or something like that.

The queen would never admit it to anyone but herself at court of course, but the moment she saw Constance in the palace, she knew she felt more strongly for this woman than she ever had for the King. She was deeply fond of him of course, but it was nothing to this.   
And, since Constance accepted Anne’s offer, it could only be the the beginning.


End file.
